diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/opensearch/ml/rest/RestMLRAGSearchProcessorIT.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/opensearch/ml/rest/RestMLRAGSearchProcessorIT.java
index b97d73ae8f..b16abef59f 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/opensearch/ml/rest/RestMLRAGSearchProcessorIT.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/opensearch/ml/rest/RestMLRAGSearchProcessorIT.java
@@ -360,7 +360,6 @@ public class RestMLRAGSearchProcessorIT extends MLCommonsRestTestCase {
         + "   \"ext\": {\n"
         + "      \"generative_qa_parameters\": {\n"
         + "        \"llm_model\": \"%s\",\n"
-        + "        \"llm_question\": \"%s\",\n"
         + "        \"system_prompt\": \"%s\",\n"
         + "        \"user_instructions\": \"%s\",\n"
         + "        \"context_size\": %d,\n"
@@ -379,8 +378,6 @@ public class RestMLRAGSearchProcessorIT extends MLCommonsRestTestCase {
         + "   \"ext\": {\n"
         + "      \"generative_qa_parameters\": {\n"
         + "        \"llm_model\": \"%s\",\n"
-        + "        \"llm_question\": \"%s\",\n"
-        // + " \"system_prompt\": \"%s\",\n"
         + "        \"user_instructions\": \"%s\",\n"
         + "        \"context_size\": %d,\n"
         + "        \"message_size\": %d,\n"
@@ -726,8 +723,12 @@ public void testBM25WithBedrock() throws Exception {
     public void testBM25WithBedrockConverse() throws Exception {
         // Skip test if key is null
         if (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID == null) {
+            System.out.println("Skipping testBM25WithBedrockConverse because AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID is null");
             return;
         }
+
+        System.out.println("Running testBM25WithBedrockConverse");
+
         Response response = createConnector(BEDROCK_CONVERSE_CONNECTOR_BLUEPRINT);
         Map responseMap = parseResponseToMap(response);
         String connectorId = (String) responseMap.get("connector_id");
@@ -779,8 +780,11 @@ public void testBM25WithBedrockConverse() throws Exception {
     public void testBM25WithBedrockConverseUsingLlmMessages() throws Exception {
         // Skip test if key is null
         if (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID == null) {
+            System.out.println("Skipping testBM25WithBedrockConverseUsingLlmMessages because AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID is null");
             return;
         }
+        System.out.println("Running testBM25WithBedrockConverseUsingLlmMessages");
+
         Response response = createConnector(BEDROCK_CONVERSE_CONNECTOR_BLUEPRINT2);
         Map responseMap = parseResponseToMap(response);
         String connectorId = (String) responseMap.get("connector_id");
@@ -840,8 +844,11 @@ public void testBM25WithBedrockConverseUsingLlmMessages() throws Exception {
     public void testBM25WithBedrockConverseUsingLlmMessagesForDocumentChat() throws Exception {
         // Skip test if key is null
         if (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID == null) {
+            System.out.println("Skipping testBM25WithBedrockConverseUsingLlmMessagesForDocumentChat because AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID is null");
             return;
         }
+
+        System.out.println("Running testBM25WithBedrockConverseUsingLlmMessagesForDocumentChat");
         Response response = createConnector(BEDROCK_DOCUMENT_CONVERSE_CONNECTOR_BLUEPRINT2);
         Map responseMap = parseResponseToMap(response);
         String connectorId = (String) responseMap.get("connector_id");
@@ -899,8 +906,11 @@ public void testBM25WithBedrockConverseUsingLlmMessagesForDocumentChat() throws
     public void testBM25WithOpenAIWithConversation() throws Exception {
         // Skip test if key is null
         if (OPENAI_KEY == null) {
+            System.out.println("Skipping testBM25WithOpenAIWithConversation because OPENAI_KEY is null");
             return;
         }
+        System.out.println("Running testBM25WithOpenAIWithConversation");
+
         Response response = createConnector(OPENAI_CONNECTOR_BLUEPRINT);
         Map responseMap = parseResponseToMap(response);
         String connectorId = (String) responseMap.get("connector_id");
@@ -957,8 +967,11 @@ public void testBM25WithOpenAIWithConversation() throws Exception {
     public void testBM25WithOpenAIWithConversationAndImage() throws Exception {
         // Skip test if key is null
         if (OPENAI_KEY == null) {
+            System.out.println("Skipping testBM25WithOpenAIWithConversationAndImage because OPENAI_KEY is null");
             return;
         }
+        System.out.println("Running testBM25WithOpenAIWithConversationAndImage");
+
         Response response = createConnector(OPENAI_4o_CONNECTOR_BLUEPRINT);
         Map responseMap = parseResponseToMap(response);
         String connectorId = (String) responseMap.get("connector_id");
@@ -1251,7 +1264,6 @@ private Response performSearch(String indexName, String pipeline, int size, Sear
                         requestParameters.source,
                         requestParameters.match,
                         requestParameters.llmModel,
-                        requestParameters.llmQuestion,
                         requestParameters.systemPrompt,
                         requestParameters.userInstructions,
                         requestParameters.contextSize,
@@ -1274,8 +1286,6 @@ private Response performSearch(String indexName, String pipeline, int size, Sear
                         requestParameters.source,
                         requestParameters.match,
                         requestParameters.llmModel,
-                        requestParameters.llmQuestion,
-                        // requestParameters.systemPrompt,
                         requestParameters.userInstructions,
                         requestParameters.contextSize,
                         requestParameters.interactionSize,
@@ -1315,7 +1325,6 @@ private Response performSearch(String indexName, String pipeline, int size, Sear
                         requestParameters.source,
                         requestParameters.match,
                         requestParameters.llmModel,
-                        requestParameters.llmQuestion,
                         requestParameters.systemPrompt,
                         requestParameters.userInstructions,
                         requestParameters.contextSize,
diff --git a/search-processors/src/main/java/org/opensearch/searchpipelines/questionanswering/generative/ext/GenerativeQAParameters.java b/search-processors/src/main/java/org/opensearch/searchpipelines/questionanswering/generative/ext/GenerativeQAParameters.java
index d5ec0e47c1..6ff89093b3 100644
--- a/search-processors/src/main/java/org/opensearch/searchpipelines/questionanswering/generative/ext/GenerativeQAParameters.java
+++ b/search-processors/src/main/java/org/opensearch/searchpipelines/questionanswering/generative/ext/GenerativeQAParameters.java
@@ -167,9 +167,11 @@ public GenerativeQAParameters(
         this.conversationId = conversationId;
         this.llmModel = llmModel;
 
-        // TODO: keep this requirement until we can extract the question from the query or from the request processor parameters
-        // for question rewriting.
-        Preconditions.checkArgument(!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(llmQuestion), LLM_QUESTION + " must be provided.");
+        Preconditions
+            .checkArgument(
+                !(Strings.isNullOrEmpty(llmQuestion) && (llmMessages == null || llmMessages.isEmpty())),
+                "At least one of " + LLM_QUESTION + " or " + LLM_MESSAGES_FIELD + " must be provided."
+            );
         this.llmQuestion = llmQuestion;
         this.systemPrompt = systemPrompt;
         this.userInstructions = userInstructions;
@@ -185,7 +187,7 @@ public GenerativeQAParameters(
     public GenerativeQAParameters(StreamInput input) throws IOException {
         this.conversationId = input.readOptionalString();
         this.llmModel = input.readOptionalString();
-        this.llmQuestion = input.readString();
+        this.llmQuestion = input.readOptionalString();
         this.systemPrompt = input.readOptionalString();
         this.userInstructions = input.readOptionalString();
         this.contextSize = input.readInt();
@@ -246,9 +248,7 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder xContentBuilder, Params params
     public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
         out.writeOptionalString(conversationId);
         out.writeOptionalString(llmModel);
-
-        Preconditions.checkNotNull(llmQuestion, "llm_question must not be null.");
-        out.writeString(llmQuestion);
+        out.writeOptionalString(llmQuestion);
         out.writeOptionalString(systemPrompt);
         out.writeOptionalString(userInstructions);
         out.writeInt(contextSize);
diff --git a/search-processors/src/test/java/org/opensearch/searchpipelines/questionanswering/generative/ext/GenerativeQAParamExtBuilderTests.java b/search-processors/src/test/java/org/opensearch/searchpipelines/questionanswering/generative/ext/GenerativeQAParamExtBuilderTests.java
index 2772884f11..8a5ade0072 100644
--- a/search-processors/src/test/java/org/opensearch/searchpipelines/questionanswering/generative/ext/GenerativeQAParamExtBuilderTests.java
+++ b/search-processors/src/test/java/org/opensearch/searchpipelines/questionanswering/generative/ext/GenerativeQAParamExtBuilderTests.java
@@ -121,8 +121,7 @@ public void testMiscMethods() throws IOException {
 
         StreamOutput so = mock(StreamOutput.class);
         builder1.writeTo(so);
-        verify(so, times(5)).writeOptionalString(any());
-        verify(so, times(1)).writeString(any());
+        verify(so, times(6)).writeOptionalString(any());
     }
 
     public void testParse() throws IOException {